Beyond the Binge reflects on episodes from a full season perspective. It is not intended to be spoiler-heavy, but there will be some spoilers throughout. Previously: Off The Hook.
I can’t even begin to explain how much fun it has been to write these up and dig deep into Arrested Development with you guys. I didn’t think it would take me until August to complete, but it has been completely worth it as it was a labor of love.
I think we all know where things stand going into Blockheads so I’m not going to give it too much of an intro other than to say I hope everyone has gotten more out of the season thanks to these in-depth looks and I’ll see you back here for Season 5, or a movie, or both. In the meantime remember to Love Each Other, although I’m still not really sure what the hell that means.
George Michael has a picture of Rebel in a kilt with the goat in his room. Because who wouldn’t?
George Michael whispers “24” as part of his ability to keep perfect time when the narrator say “it was after second 23.”
One dorm vote is cast for Bender from Futurama when George Michael is voted out of hist dorm as a nod to when he lost the Student Council election and 1% of votes were for Bart Simpson.
GOB is wearing a The Ladies’ No. 1 Detective Agency TV series t-shirt, which according to well-informed audience member gregplaysdrums who saw Mitch Hurwitz speak recently in LA:
“A scene was planned with GOB and the Marc Cherry entourage, where they were sitting around watching HBO on a TV. One of them said, ‘Hey, this show on HBO is just like us! It should have been about us!’ And then it would be shown that they were watching The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.
“That scene didn’t make it into the show (obviously), but in episode 15, you can still see GOB wearing a No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency t-shirt.”
Everything is backwards. “You’re asking Lem and me to move into this house, and it just, it seems all backwards.” — Rebel says as a nod to the floor plan in George Michael’s house being a mirror image to the original model home. A high note also plays when George Michael sits on the piano on what should be the low note keys and George Michael’s refrigerator/freezer is set opposite of normal. These are bad signs.
The Fakeblock sign at Cinco is actually made of fake blocks, and it has also been suggested that the circle around the “C” (which is meant to be a copyright nod to the product) is also there as an easter egg to point to “fake blood” in the case of Lucille 2. Here’s the image in question.
George Michael tells Rebel he will fight whoever it takes to win her as a nod to Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, just like “It Gets Better” nodded to Youth in Revolt.
George Michael punches Micheal just like he punched GOB for dating Ann.
To expand on this scene, I’m of the opinion that we’re supposed to believe that the photobooth memory is in Michael’s subconscious, but that he didn’t remember discovering that George Michael was dating Rebel because of the Forget Me Now. Is that what everyone else took away? It’s pretty ambiguous.
Finally, I know the open ended close to the season rubbed some the wrong way but for me I took it as a vote of confidence towards more to come so I was too reassured to be irked. I hope most of you feel the same, because I for one can’t wait to find out who was in the Rock Monster costume. Until then.
Sources: Arrested Development Wikia & r/ArrestedDevelopment
